Glowing Green
by Irhaboggle
Summary: For all of her life, Kara has only ever really, truly, feared one single thing: Kryptonite. But that fear was so intense it led to her coming to despise any and all things glowing green. At least until a certain someone shows her that sometimes, the glowing green can symbolize light, life and love instead of death, despair and destruction...


Kara Danvers wasn't afraid of anything. Not as long as she was on planet Earth and being powered by the yellow sun. Thanks to that yellow sun, she was practically immortal! A goddess among men! No harm could come to her, and she possessed superhuman abilities beyond anyone's wildest dreams. She had heightened physical and mental capabilities as well as an array of sweet new powers like flight, ice breath and heat vision. It was more than enough to make her one of the most powerful beings on the planet, and she knew it. It was why she wasn't afraid of anything! Or, at least, almost anything...

Superhuman though she was, Kara was not entirely a goddess and there was still enough "human" within her to balance out the "super". She did have a few basic fears, like spiders, creepy clowns, masked serial killers and, as embarrassing as it was, her family's popcorn machine. But aside from that, when it really came down to it, Kara wasn't afraid of anything! When it really counted, there was nothing that scared her!

Except, there was. It was something so rare, however, that she sometimes forgot about it. Kryptonite. That glowing green substance, highly toxic to a Kryptonian like herself. That glowing green. It was the one and only thing she ever really feared. Although only an element, a clump of rock, to her, it was her biggest, greatest and most terrifying foe of all, even more than all the other criminals she'd ever fought combined. It was worse than any spider or popcorn machine. Kryptonite, that evil, glowing green, was the one and only thing Kara really, truly feared.

It was only by sheer luck alone that Kryptonite was not a naturally occurring substance on Earth and was next to impossible to create. This was the only thing that kept Kara from being stuck in a constant state of terror and paranoia. The rarity of the element made it so that Kara could live freely, fearlessly. But if anything, that just went to show just how deep Kara's fear for Kryptonite really ran. How afraid did she have to be that knowing that it did not occur naturally on Earth was enough to reassure her that she was safe? How afraid was Kara that the mere thought of Kryptonite sent chills down her spine that were only alleviated by the knowledge that no one on Earth possessed that deadly element, or the knowledge on how to make it? It would be an understatement to say Kara feared Kryptonite. She was utterly terrified of the glowing green.

And the years rolled on, a select few foes of hers were able to get their hands on some Kryptonite and, more than once, it had been used against the Girl of Steel. Her fear for the glowing green went from what she'd heard whispered about what it could do to someone like her, to a fear based in personal experience. There came a time, and several other after, where Kara got to finally understand just how powerful and painful the glowing green really was. Every single time, she managed to survive the agonizing effects of the glowing green, but not without a very high cost. Even if the physical damage was not permeant, the mental and emotional was, and she could still feel the burning torture long after it was over.

After that first real battle against the glowing green, Kara had been paranoid of anything glowing or green for almost an entire month. Kara would jump whenever something around her would begun to glow with a pulse, and she would shy away whenever she saw something in that exact shade of green. Then, whenever something in her life just happened to be glowing green (a stoplight, a medical monitor, a flashlight, the light from a pen or a phone or a button, a computer, anything!) Kara would back away as fast as she could. It humiliated her to be like this, but that first experience with Kryptonite had done more damage to her than anyone could've ever known.

For years, this intense level of fear of the glowing green continued. Although Kara did calm back down and she would no longer flinch at stoplights or cringe away from a monitor or a button that suddenly blinked emerald, she still regarded Kryptonite as one of the most taboo things anyone could possess or talk about. Any trace of that shade of green, even if it did not frighten her, acted as a trigger for her. It humiliated her to think about it, let alone tell anyone, but it was the truth. Even when she was successfully able to conceal her fears about the glowing green to the public, the mere mention or sight of it would still sicken her somewhere deep within.

And this was a secret she carried with her for a long time. The glowing green never stopped shining in the darker corners of her mind. She couldn't get rid of that twisting, crushing inferno of pain. The color was forever flickering in the depths of her eyes and her nightmares. It became Kara's least favorite color, and even though she knew that glowing green was usually a good thing for Earth people, Kara could never bring herself to trust such a color ever again, and it would never leave her alone.

But there finally came a day when Kara's whole world was turned upside down and, for the first time ever, she saw the glowing green as something to be loved instead of feared. Ironically enough, it came from a woman whose name was evil, but whose life and heart and personality were anything but. Lena Luthor. How strangely poetic and ironic, but how beautifully fitting, that it should be she, the one branded as a villain despite having the heart of a hero, to show Kara that the evil glowing green could be good?

Kara had been fighting another faceless baddie, and he actually had the upper hand. Strong as Kara was, she was neither perfect nor totally invulnerable. This would not be the fist time she'd ever been bested in combat, but that didn't make this latest defeat any easier to swallow. One way or another, Supergirl's life was hanging in the balance again and this was a fact not lost upon anyone who was watching over her.

"KARA!" Kara could hear her sister, Alex, sobbing her name through the earpiece she wore.

"KARA!" Kara could hear Winn's panicky voice before he began begging someone to find a way to save her.

"KARA!" Kara could hear James, sounding desperate, frustrated that he was unable to do anything more than cry out for her.

"KARA!" Kara could hear Mon-El, sounding like his heart would break if he lost her.

"KARA!" Kara could hear J'onn demanding a response from her, to let him know that she was at least still alive.

All of them, all of her family, screaming for her, calling out to her, begging her to respond. But she couldn't. Though Kara wanted nothing more than to reply, to reassure them and to ask calmly for backup, she was being brutalized so terribly that neither her body nor mind were responding to her. Try as she did to respond, she couldn't even open her mouth, let alone speak. She could only lie there and take it as her enemy continued his brutal beatdown. She could only lie there in agony, her loved ones still crying out for her while she was totally powerless to give any sign to them at all. At last, Kara felt herself slipping away. She could only hope her friends back at the DEO would send that backup in time. She wasn't sure how much longer she could remain awake...

"KARA!" Kara did not hear the last person shout out her name because this person was not connected to her earpiece from the DEO. Had she heard the voice, however, she would've recognized it at once as belonging to Lena Luthor. But no, Kara didn't hear Lena at all. Instead, she only heard her opponent, towering above her, laughing at her current predicament. He grabbed her cape and yanked her upward by the neck, leaping skyward and taking her with him. Kara choked as they went higher and higher before the enemy activated some sort of jetpack and was airborne. Higher and higher he and Kara went until they were right beneath the darkened clouds hovering over the sleeping National City.

For a moment, Kara continued to dangle. She knew what was coming. Her attacker opened his hand again. Down she fell. Kara wasn't sure if this fall would kill her, she had survived worse after all, but she knew it was still a possibility. For that, she did her best to resign herself to an impending death, and she could only hope that it would be quick and painless.

Glowing green. A bolt of emerald light suddenly split the midnight sky. Kara finally managed to force her mouth open, bloody and bruised though it was, and she let out a wail of despair and terror. She knew she was going to die. She'd already resigned herself to it. But was her death really going to be through Kryptonite? Was this supposed to be a salt-in-the-wound type of thing? Was this how her opponent was solidifying his victory? By dropping her from a few hundred feet up, and then sending Kryptonite arrows back down with her? Kara suddenly wished that she could fall a little faster, hoping she'd hit the ground and at least be knocked out before any of that glowing green touched her. Kara's hopes were left unanswered, but for once, that was a good thing.

The glowing green seemed to assimilate in the sky right over her. Half of it continued to fly upward, where her enemy remained, still gloating over his victory. The other half of the glowing green, however, became a deadly arc of emerald light, speeding down and right at her. Kara uttered out one last weak, defeated, terrified cry as that deadly arc finally reached her, but the moment the glowing green actually touched her, she felt the exact opposite of what she'd expected. She'd expected unimaginable, unspeakable, unmatchable agony but instead, she felt... safe? Yes! Crazy as it was, the moment this glowing green hit her, Kara felt warm, protected. And it was unlike anything she'd ever felt before.

Suddenly, things reversed, and Kara's fall slowed to a halt. Then, she began to rise back up until she was hovering over the tops of the city buildings once more, but it was not by her own volition this time. Instead, the longer Kara basked in the glowing green, the more she realized that she was resting in someone's arms. It wasn't just the light that was holding her up, there was somebody else there too, inside the light. Right over both of their heads, the other half of the glowing green was busy attacking Kara's enemy. That green light was violent, flashing and blinding. The light that Kara's savior was emitting was the exact opposite. It was gentle, warm and illuminating. In fact, it was almost welcoming! Though it felt so strange to think that, given Kara's dark history with the glowing green.

But it was true! Even though this glowing green looked just like Kryptonite, there was something far safer about this light than the light that emitted from Kryptonite. Kara watched it, almost enchanted. It almost seemed alive, pulsing around her and the person in whose arms she was being held. They were holding her in the same way she had held so many others so many times before. It was a very surreal experience for the Girl of Steel and she could only gawk at the pulsing, flowing light encircling her within its emerald "arms".

Finally, though, Kara managed to turn her head to the side, attempting to use that gentle glowing green to get a good look at the one who had saved her. Although the rest of the world was quite dark, it being midnight now, there was just enough light for Kara to catch a glimpse of an all-too-familiar face. She could still recognize her savior's identity, even in the dark, even through the blood dripping down her forehead into her eyes, even behind the green mask her savior wore.

"Lena?" she moaned through bruised, bloodied lips. The figure, still carrying Kara close, did not respond with words. Instead, there was only a telltale tilt of the head and a smile, white teeth reflecting the green light.

"But how?" the Kryptonian managed to force out. Once again, Kara's savior did not utter a sound. Instead, one of those arms holding her so securely shifted a little and Kara turned her head towards it.

There, on the ring-finger of her savior's hand, was a little ring, glowing green. Even though it could've very well been a ring embedded with Kryptonite, Kara somehow already knew that this wasn't the case at all and did not flinch when she studied the ring even closer. There was a small symbol etched upon its flat, glowing face. Kara's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. Wait a minute. That symbol! Why did it look so familiar? Part of her was sure she'd seen it before while the other remained in doubt...

Kara, one last time, turned her head back to look her savior in the eyes. They were unreadable behind the green mask, so Kara looked down a few inches. Although her own body was obscuring it slightly, Kara could see a larger version of what was on the ring emblazoned upon her savior's chest. Suddenly then, Kara remembered where she had seen that sigil before.

"A Green Lantern!" she gasped. She met her savior's eyes once again and, this time, Kara saw a light of playfulness shining within them.

"You aren't the only secret superhero around here, Supergirl," her savior finally spoke and if there had been any doubt in Kara before about who her savior was, all of it was gone now.

"Lena!" and for the first time ever, Kara was not afraid of the glowing green.

"Shall I escort you home?" Lena asked gently, teasing Kara. Kara couldn't respond, but she didn't have to. Instead, Lena only kissed her forehead gently before bringing her closer to her chest and flying them back towards the DEO.

"Now, don't you think this might be cheating on Kara? I know you're in a relationship with her," Kara mumbled a little. Despite how muddled she was feeling, she was still aware enough to remember that Lena wasn't supposed to know her true identity. Lena, however, wasn't having it.

"You have to be kissing a different person, not a different personality, in order for it to be considered cheating," she replied with something between a laugh and a scoff in her voice. She couldn't tell whether or not she found it impressive, annoying, exasperating, or all of the above that, even now, on death's door, Kara was still stubbornly insisting that she and Supergirl were not the same person.

"What do you mean?" Kara mumbled stubbornly. It was second nature for her to try and hide herself from Lena, so she continued to try and keep up the charade even though she lacked the strength to do so and Lena clearly wasn't going to let it slide this time.

"Come on, Danvers, I know it's you," Lena insisted. "I told you my secret identity, so it's only fair that you do the same!" the glowing green got brighter as she said this and Kara finally caved in and confessed.

"Ok, fine, you got me, I'm Kara Danvers and Supergirl both. You happy?" she asked.

"Yes," Lena sounded satisfied. This time, as she continued to fly herself and Kara back to the DEO, she pressed a kiss to Kara's lips.

Just as Kara had done for Lena so many times before, now it was Lena's turn to be Kara's hero and to carry her home. The glowing green kept them company for the rest of their flight back and Kara, for the first time ever, felt safe and warm in the glowing green. For the first time ever, Kara began to see the color as something other than death, despair and destruction. Now, it meant light, life, love, and, most importantly, Lena...

**AN: Inspired off the pic of Lena as a Green Lantern, holding Supergirl bridal style. I wish it were canon that Lena was a Green Lantern just because I need Supercorp being superheroes together and I need Lena to finally have a chance to even the playing field with Kara and get to save Kara in the same way Kara saves her and to prove that she can be a good superhero. **

**Also, Kara still hasn't told Lena she's Supergirl (but Lena still knows, fight me on this), so let's just say that Lena has been a GL for awhile but hasn't told Kara. At least until tonight, when both secrets are revealed at last.**


End file.
